Sky+ and NTL

gadget junkie

I dont know a lot about satellite TV, I am a computer techie, this might be a stupid question, but..
I have NTL cable TV with a NTL supplied STB that gets me all the digital channels, (and 600Kb broadband)
I would love a PVR like the Sky+ or the TIVO, what are my options?
Dump NTL and buy the whole SKY+ satellite package?
Buy a SKY+ box and use it with my existing service?
or buy a TIVO?
I would be grateful for any suggestions,

icdg

Unfortunately you can't use a Sky+ box with NTL. You are not allowed connect any equipment not supplied by NTL to the service, in addition, it would not work even if it were connected.

There were rumours that NTL might develop a PVR service of their own, but this is years down the road.

TiVo was never marketed in Ireland (and is no longer available in the UK either), but while one of their UK (analogue) boxes would work here and could be used with NTL, it isn't really designed to work with digital cable either.

For now, SkyPlus is your only real PVR solution available in this country. And that entails switching to satellite.

gadget junkie

Thanks for the advice ICDG,

I would like to switch to Satellite, but will I still get RTE/UTV/BBC/Ch4?
or would I have to keep my NTL connection, this would be expensive,
if I thought I could get all the channels and the PVR on SKY I would go for it

Actually you could get a dvd recorder which records without disks or with disks.
Panasonic have a good one if you look at their site.

Sky only has the four Irish channels and BBC 1 and 2 on their epg so they are the only terrestrials that you can use the sky plus features on.
BBC 3 and 4 etc can be tuned in manually but cannot be used with the plus features.

You would need a separate FTV card for ITV and Ch4 and five and these are hard to come by now, have a look at the ftv sticky for more information.

PK - the king

Argos used to sell PVR systems that worked with digital cable, analogue cable, UHF, VHF, SHF, S-VHS, Euro AV etc. They were about €350 each, but they don't seem to be dealing them anymore. I think they were too unreliable. Search around and you should find something that works with ntl.

Tenshot

Just to contradict one of the earlier posts, the Tivo actually works very well with digital cable; I know a number of people happily using a Tivo over here: five with NTL Digital in Dublin, two with NTL MMDS in Wicklow, one with Sky Digital and another in Dundalk via UHF. Tivo's can't receive VHF channels off-air however.

Tivos are still available from eBay in the UK (usual price is a healthy Stg£200; expect to pay an extra EU15 per month for the monthly subscription, otherwise it's not much use). Tivo are still accepting new subscriptions - My Dad signed up about two weeks ago, and based on the customer number he was given, it looks like they've added about 600 new customers since Christmas. Not too bad, given that eBay has been the only place to buy Tivos for over a year now!

Getting it working with NTL over here requires a bit of jiggery pokery, but it's fairly straightforward. Happy to assist anyone who's interested in giving it a go. It will work out of the box with Sky -- "Sky Ireland" is one of the available services during setup.

I haven't had direct experience of Sky+ (I went into Dixons in Blanchardstown, where they had a big sign saying "Ask to see our SKY+ demo!", and when I asked, I was told "we can't, we're not hooked up for it" -- good grief). From what I've read, Sky+ is a decent enough service: two tuners are nice, but the interface isn't nearly as slick as the Tivo's, and the program guide data is a lot patchier. Recurring recordings are also less flexible.

Regardless of what you go for, having a PVR completely changes the way you watch TV; it's one of the few purchases I've been completely and utterly satisfied with. I can't even remember the last time I saw an ad...

Finally, Sky doesn't offer ITV and Channel 4 in Ireland yet, and no sign of it appearing any time soon...

GerardKeating

Originally posted by Tenshot
Just to contradict one of the earlier posts, the Tivo actually works very well with digital cable; I know a number of people happily using a Tivo over here: five with NTL Digital in Dublin, two with NTL MMDS in Wicklow, one with Sky Digital and another in Dundalk via UHF. Tivo's can't receive VHF channels off-air however.

How could it work with digital, does the digital not require decoding???

I thought the Tivo had an analogue tuner.

gerard

Tenshot

The Tivo has a SCART input, so you connect your NTL Digital box -> Tivo -> TV. (Actually, the Tivo makes a decent RGB switch box, since in addition to its own RGB output, it can also pass through RGB from both its auxiliary and VCR ports. I use this to get RGB from my Tivo, DVD and NTL box all into the single RGB port on my TV.)

There's an infrared dongle from the Tivo to NTL's Pace box which is how it changes channels. All the popular cable boxes are supported, including the Pace 4000 series used by NTL.